Shattered Glass(32)

He caught up to me after I was already seated at a table, munching on chips and salsa. “I ordered iced tea for us both.” Sitting across from me, he glared long enough that I grew fidgety and began picking my bottom tooth with a finger while staring at the ceiling.

“This is not at all funny.”

“Which is why I’m not laughing,” I answered, showing him how very serious I was by returning his glare.

“He’s a witness. How many ways can I spell ‘fucked up’ for you?”

“I saw him first!” The sheer ridiculousness of that statement made me sit back. I didn’t try to clarify what I meant, however.

“You can’t work a case if you’re involved with a fucking witness. You can’t look at him objectively,” Luis reasoned.

“Maybe not. Or maybe I can. Either way, no one will know this case better. That makes me the best choice to continue.”

Penny, our usual waitress, plopped two iced teas at the table, disrupting the flow of the argument. “Hey, guys. The usual?”

Luis was still glaring, so I answered her. “Yeah, and a bowl of Menudo for me. New haircut?”

She twisted a brown strand of pixie short hair in her fingers and nodded. “Yup. Kinda drastic but this summer’s so hot, and the hair was getting heavy.”

“Looks great,” I winked and added, “Brave, too.”

“I still sometimes feel it at my waist. Ghost hair,” she sighed, and we both laughed. “Back in a jiff with your food.” Before tucking her pad into her brown apron and walking off, she gave Luis a questioning glance.

“What is it with this kid?” Luis picked up his interrogation, as if Penny had never been there.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

“That suicide last month. It really got to you. Wasn’t your first db (dead body), wasn’t even your first suicide I’d bet. You’ve been weird ever since then, though. Haven’t been by the house. Haven’t seen Angelica as much. Today’s the first hump-day shit since. What gives?”

“Seemed like such a waste,” I hedged, gulping the tea like it’d soothe the ache in my chest or cool the watering heat in my eyes.

“Junkie that hangs himself ain’t surprising. It’s a fucking public service usually.” Luis was prodding gently, poking around like there was a button he just hadn’t found yet. He’d already found it, I just was having a slow reaction to it being pushed—shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, glaze of sweat on my upper lip. Where was Penny with our food? I checked over my shoulder, hoping to see her carrying a tray over. “He someone you know?” Luis tried guessing.

“No.” The wide eyes I gave Luis should have been heard by him as “Drop it!”, but he was still searching for that button, like a blind guy reading the Braille in a hotel elevator.

“Can’t just be that he was a junkie, we see those every goddamn day.”

“Drop it. Jesus Christ, this is lunch, not therapy.” Thank fuck the food arrived. I ignored Luis’s contemplative gaze and dug into my tacos. The bowl of Menudo sat off to my left, daring me. “I don’t know what it is with the kid. He’s—?” Christ, how was I going to put this without sounding like a fucking woman. “…appealing. Attractive. I don’t know. He’s something. Shut up.” I held up a hand. “I don’t give a shit if your daughter is gay or your whole fucking lineage is taking it up the ass. They’re not me. Unless you have some unique perspective on why I’m suddenly checking out guys’ asses, then I’m just going to go with the redhead that takes it up the ass and hope he has a shitfucking answer.” Or a goddamn roadmap of how to deal with a sudden attraction to penises might be helpful, too. “I won’t fuck up this case. That’s all you need to know.”

A sigh, then Luis picked up his taco and bit in. “Penny,” he called over his shoulder. “Where’s the hot sauce?”

I breathed out a sigh of relief as Luis switched to babbling about his youngest daughter, Mariposa, who apparently found a box of Oreos the night before and ate the whole thing, claiming her innocence through chocolate-cookie-coated lips.





My Father, The Anti-Hero

Questioning suspects while attorneys are present is like a game of chess where one side makes all the moves behind their back, and you have to trust they’ll tell you which move they made. Of course, they always lie. So when Luis and I entered the room, we were as prepared as possible for any lie Alvarado might tell. But the asshole already had our king in danger.